Did You Catch the Insane Meta Twist in ‘Game of Thrones’ Citadel Library?

Travel time notwithstanding, Game of Thrones’ sixth season closer finally ushered Sam into the great Citadel library to begin his training as a Maester, in search of vital intel for Jon Snow’s battle against the Night King. That said, a few easter eggs in the library itself caught the eye of clever viewers, and might just blow up Game of Thrones’ reality like wildfire.

“The Winds of Winter” certainly had it’s fun with Sam’s visit to the library, including some Brazil-esque bureaucracy, and a Beauty and the Beast-worthy reveal of the archive itself, but if something seemed at all familiar about the chandeliers, it might be because you saw them at the top of the hour, every hour:

HBO

HBO

The structures themselves are actually armillary spheres, rather than chandeliers, but they weren’t the only familiar facets from the opening credits. Those bizarre magnifying glasses worn by the maester bookkeeper (Frank Hvam)? They make literal blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearances as well (via Mic):

HBO

HBO

Mind you, there’s actually an explanation here that floated around some years ago, per HitFix:

Eventually, Angus Wall at Elastic, the company that makes the titles, had “a vision of a mad monk, in a tower somewhere,” who was somehow keeping track of all this action, “and creating as he went. He would then fashion little automatons out of the materials that would be available in his world. They would be stone, or tin, or wood, and everything would feel very hand-crafted.”

Tying the Citadel to Game of Thrones’ opening credits surely serves as a clever in-joke, rather than any real assertion we’ve been watching monks and maesters pulling the strings for six seasons now, but hey! Maybe Sam really is the key to everything.